Page - 15 - in Nikola Tesla and the Graz Tech

15 Only after he had been given citizenship of the USA did he use the form: ‘Be it known that I, NIKOLA TESLA, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county and State of New York, have invented…’ (Patent No. 464, 667, dated December 8, 1891). His parents were Serbs. He came to see himself as one, even after he acquired American citizenship in 1891. His father, who was an Orthodox priest, placed great value on strict mental discipline. His mother had a pronounced practical disposition, which she was able to pass on to her children. Nikola had three sisters and an older brother who died in an accident at an early age. His parents arranged for Nikola to have a schooling which was excellent for the rural conditions of the time. He attended primary school in Smiljan and Gospic´ from 1862 to 1866, and then went to the secondary school in Gospic´ until 1870. He received further schooling at the upper secondary school in Rakovac from 1871 to 1874. His parents wanted him to follow in the family tradition and become a priest. But this did not suit his own inclinations and interests, which were more ori- ented to physics. Only in the context of an illness, as a kind of quid pro quo for a promise of recovery, did he manage to receive permission from his parents to study physics. Nikola Tesla came to Graz at the beginning of the 1875/76 academic year and remained here as a student until 1878. In 1881, he resumed his studies at the University of Prague. In the autumn of 1881, Nikola Tesla worked as an employee at the telephone exchange in Budapest. In 1882, he joined the Continental Edison Company in Paris, where he was commissioned to co-operate on building a power station at Strasbourg. In June 1884, Nikola Tesla moved to New York. He immediately began working for Thomas Alva Edison at the Edison Machine Works.